Fargo, eh?

This past weekend, after an extremely brutal bootcamp workout, Ben and I drove up to Fargo for our friend Sonja's wedding!  Sonja, better known as Sunny, has been a good friend of mine since Freshman year of college.  The first time I met her husband, Brad, was at my wedding last year, where Sunny caught the boquet...rather forcefully I might add.  A week later she and Brad were engaged!  Apparently he had already bought the ring by the time my wedding rolled around but I'm still taking credit for the whole thing.

Anyways...bootcamp on Saturday was BRU-TAL.  Brutal.  First we did a 10-minute warm up jog.  Not bad.  The rest of the workout involved sprinting up hills, doing burpies up hills, doing squat lunges up hills, side-shuffles up hills...you get the idea.  And just when I thought the worst was over, we had 20 minutes of suicides on the football field - not ordinary suicides mind you, but suicides with an "activity" interspersed at every turnaround point.  Ten jump squats, ten squat lunges, ten burpees, ten tricep dips, etc.  The burpees were the worst by far.  After bootcamp mercifully ended I was totally beat, sweaty and covered in dirt.  Perfect for a 4-hour car ride.

When we arrived in Fargo we were greeted by the lovely Linz who hosted us in her room for a bit while we waited until our room was ready for check-in.  After I'd showered and made myself presentable we all headed over to the church!  The ceremony was just lovely, the bride was gorgeous, and I especially loved Linz's musical performance...any chance to hear that girl sing :)



Linz is PUMPED




Happy times :)



Sonja and Brad - hitched!

After the ceremony we zipped over to the reception at the Plains Art Museum - a beautiful venue just a short walk from the hotel.  Linz, Ben and I had declared earlier in the day that we would be "those people" at the wedding...what that means, I'm still not sure but it definitely involved some ridiculous photos.

Reception!

TABLE 8 BEST TABLE EVER

Good try....

Shmeeeeee

Yep

....yep

The delicious dinner was of course followed by dancing!

And then the best after party ever.  We are probably the classiest people in the world.  Probably.

Tea time?  Maybe...?

Sending angry photos to friends who were not present

Luvvvvv

Well that's all I got for today!  Peace out.

Bootcamp Update: Week 1 Recap

Wrote this on Friday, publishing on Monday...such is my life.

Below is a brief summary of what I've been eating  to support my rigorous workout schedule:

Sideways cupcakes??!?

Kidding!  Actually I didn't even eat this... they were in the breakroom, they were free and had sprinkles on them so I was like "SCORE free sprinkles!" but then I took a bite and realized the frosting was that weird synthetic-tasting stuff and the cake itself was just not very good.  Sadly it looked much better than it tasted.  Not worth it.

What I have actually been eating looks more like the following:

Breakfast

•  LOTS of green smoothies
• -Homemade museli or oatmeal
• -Homemade oat bars

I realize my thermos looks like Shrek exploded inside of it but I promise it was tasty

Lunch

• Some sort of salad, with tons of spinach/kale/other greenery, and added protien in the form of lentils or tofu

Salad: spinach, arugala, fresh tofu, chopped nectarine, homemade miso/mustard/red wine vinegarette.
YUM.

Dinner

• Dinner varies because this is the one meal of the day where I cook and eat with another human being aka my husband.  This week he's been doing most of the cooking, so on Monday and Tuesday I had a potato/blue cheese tart, and last night we did whole wheat pasta using Heidi Swanson's Summer Squash Pasta recipe from Super Natural Everyday.

Here are some of my favorite Green Smoothie combos:

• 2 cups spinach with frozen banana, fresh peaches, almond milk and 1tb flaxseed meal
• 2 cups spinach with frozen mango, blueberries, almond milk and 1tb flaxseed meal
• 2 cups spinach with frozen banana, blueberries, almond butter or PB, and almond milk

I mix my smoothies before I leave in the morning and pour it into a thermos to keep the smoothie cold while I die slowly during bootcamp circuits.  When I get to work I enjoy my delicious smoothie while checking the one billion emails that have somehow managed to accrue in my inbox since the night before.

And my museli "recipe"

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 grated apple
• handfull of dried fruit (chopped dates, blueberries, cherries, whatever)
• Sprinkle of cinnamon
• 3/4 to 1 cup almond milk
• 2 tablespoons plain yogurt
• Fresh fruit of your choice

Mix the oats, grated apple and dried fruit in a bowl, jar, or tupperware (I use a jar - less chance of spillage when I throw it in my lunch bag in the am) and sprinkle cinnamon over the top.  Add almond milk and yogurt, stir to combine and leave it in your fridge overnight.  In the morning as you are frantically running out the door and trying to find your gym shoes, add as much fresh fruit as you want, throw the container in your bag and you're on your way!

Overall observations:

• I am apparently in better shape than I thought I was?  I expected to just suck at this bootcamp, but while it is definitely difficult it isn't as soul-crushing as I thought it would be
• Yoga feels very different when it's your second workout of the day and your muscles aren't "fresh."  As part of the bootcamp regimen we are supposed to do a second workout later in the day, and almost all of mine have been either 60 or 90 minute yoga classes, some hot and some unheated.  All I can say is on Tuesday night, Tadasana felt extreme.  I went to lift my arms over my head and they were all "bitch I hate you" and I was like "suck it up arms, we're doing this."  Wednesday was better, but last night I just felt drained.
•  Green smoothies are magic.  Every time I have one for breakfast I feel like I have way more energy throughout the day!  I need to make these all the damn time.

On a more serious note, it has just been a strange, sort of horrible week.  Two of my close friends/colleauges at work had some really tough things happen in their lives this week - completely unrelated, but in close succession.  I know there's nothing I can do but they are both such great people and my heart is just breaking for them right now.

Sorry, that was kind of a downer to end on.  But sometimes life just makes no sense...

Camping and Bootcamping

It is a truth universally acknowledged that if you are a MN or WI resident, it is summer  and it is the weekend, you can probably be found at someone's cabin.  This probably isn't as true for me as it is for many others as my family does not own a cabin (my parents live in the woods already, they don't exactly need one), but whenever I get the chance it's fun to impose myself on someone else's cabin.

Luckily my awesome friend Katie has a cabin!  Whenever she is in town from Chicago, she usually invites a group of us up to Balsam Lake Wisconsin for a weekend of boating, cooking, campfiring and more cooking.  As cliche as this sounds, there is something so fantastic about leaving my laptop at home, shutting my phone off and just sitting around a fire by the lake.  Sometimes it's nice to disconnect.

Also, these weekends provide the opportunity to embark on many delicious cooking and baking adventures!  We tend to go off the rails a little bit, combining anything that sounds good together like dipping chocolate chip cookies in cake frosting, or creating the Bacon S'More (it's delicious).  This time around, Amanda arrived with a huge box of freshly-picked strawberries.  The berries were quickly put to good use in a pie and a cake, as well as some randomly improvised cocktails.

Introducing...the Strawberry Basil Mint Mojito!  Basically this happened because we didn't have enough mint and were looking for a similar herb to suppliment.  Enter mint's good friend basil. Surprisingly, this was quite a delicious combination.

Amanda and me, drinkin' up!

To make this, all you have to do is smash 3-4 mint leaves in a pint glass with 3-4 basil leaves, a lime wedge and a few small strawberries.  Muddle them with a muddler, or if you do not have such fancy equipment, the handle of a large plastic spoon.  Then add a couple tablespoons of sugar, 1.5 ounces of rum, and add soda water.  Ta da!  Mojito.

Amanda also made a delicious cake and pie - but for some reason my phone camera hacked the cake photo in half and I didn't get a photo of the pie.  Oh well.  My tastebuds will always remember them.

This next photo is a poached duck egg from Piccolo restaurant.  It has nothing to do with camping or strawberries, but it was pretty and I wanted to post it.

Good segue.  So bootcamping.  One of my friends from work is co-leading a Bootcamp program at Corepower Yoga and she somehow talked me into joining.  So for the next two weeks (well, two weeks minus two days now) I'll be bootcamping from 6-7am every day.  We are also supposed to fit in a second workout in the evening, and journal all of our meals during the program as well as set specific goals for what we hope to achieve.

I will definitely talk about the program as much as possible, but I'm not planning to blog specific workouts or meals since this blog is not a food journal and was never intended to be such...but I'll definitely post meal ideas, and I'll try to speak to which foods I've noticed negative/poistive effects from.

I've also joined Desiree Rumbaugh's 30 day Eat Green Challenge which encourages a mostly plant-based diet.  Fruits, veggies and a lot of raw food.  I think my main concern over the next couple of weeks is making sure I am getting enough calories given how much I'll be working out.  Lotsa fruits at work I guess.

I haven't set my goals for the program yet, and I'm pretty sure "not dying during Warrior Dash" isn't a real goal so I need to think about this some more.

So far, here's what we've done:
Day 1
- Workout 1: short jog, followed by a 60 minute cardio circuit (4 full rounds of the circuit)
- Workout 2: 90 min hatha class at The Om Collective

Day 2
- Workout 1: 60 minute strength training circuit alternated with 2 minute cardio
  "bursts" (this one just about killed me...)
- Workout 2 (planned): Hot Power Fusion class at CPY...although my boss just scheduled
  an urgent end-of-day meeting so it depends on how late I have to stay at work.  If I miss
  HPF I'll head home and do 60 minutes of yoga regardless.  I won't lie, I am a little
  nervous about this meeting...
So far I've been eating:  green smoothies, spinach salads (with tofu/tempeh and other vegetables mixed in), homemade museli and homemade oat bars.  Tonight we're making a potato tart with some roasted tomatoes. Mmmm... lots of cheese in the tart so I shouldn't need to worry about my daily calories ;)

I kind of maybe don't hate running anymore almost

I have always had a thing against running - I just find it kind of boring.  I know cardio is important etc, but the process of actually going running has just never been fun for me.  Yoga, on the other hand, I loved the second I stepped onto my mat.  I think we are just predisposed to different types of exercise and physical activity and you have to find what works for you.  For some people, running is it.  For me, it is not.

Other than a brief period last winter when I ran on the treadmill every day while traveling in Turkey, because our hotel room was too small to do yoga and the treadmill was literally the only way to any sort of physical activity, I have fastidiously avoided running for the better part of three years.

And then for some reason I signed up for the Warrior Dash.  My co-workers talked me into it, and I agreed.  Why?  I have no idea, but it probably has something to do with the fact that the WD involves fire, barbed wire and mud crawls, which seems way more fun (to me...) than the average 5K.  Shortly after I signed up I realized that oh, I haven't run in like a year.  I should probably do something about that.

So I started running, three times a week.  At first I couldn't even finish two miles without walking.  But soon, two was no big deal.  Then three.  Now I usually run a quick two miles two or three mornings during the week, and do a longer run (3.5 miles or so) on the weekends.  Now I just need to add in some inclines so the ski hills don't kill me.

Point being, I think I am actually starting to enjoy it.  Not as much as I love yoga, but I definitely don't hate it.  I've noticed that when I run in the morning, I just feel better - it changes my attitude for the whole morning.  And today it was actually kind of fun.  Who knew.

Moving on - running requires energy, and here's some of what I've been using to fuel my workouts:

~ Garden/Ktichen ~

Found these outside after choir - the best dessert :)

Arugala, egg whites and tomatoes on toast with a sprinkle of parmasean and fresh ground pepper



Summer Squash soup of the Heidi Swanson variety



~ Last Weekend at Mango Thai ~

Fresh Mango Spring Rolls

Green Curry w/ Tofu

Beer, part of a balanced meal ;)

BYOB!

Well, I hope I don't die in the Warrior Dash.  It's not for another 2.5 weeks but wish me luck anyways :)

The wisdom to know the difference

I've been living with the serenity prayer a little bit lately.  It's really amazing how every time I think I understand the concept of understanding the difference between the things in my life that I can control vs. those that I can't, life proves me wrong and I suddenly get it on a whole other level.  I've also decided that the Serenity Prayer in and of itself is not enough.  Fine, so you know the difference - now what are you going to do about it?

This might be a little disjointed, I apologize.

I grew up believing that if I was in a critical situation and wasn't losing sleep over it, it meant that I didn't care.  Over the last few years, I've realized that mindset is ridiculous.  If you can change the situation, stop worrying and do something about it.  If you can't do anything...then you can't do anything so why worry?  Do the best you can with what you do have control over, and for the other stuff it's best to make peace with whatever happens.
For a long time I wanted to change who I was.  I've always been shy and introverted, and the heightened empathy that comes with my INFJ personality means that I am sometimes ridiculously sensitive. I take everything on my own shoulders and tend to beat myself up over imperfections.

I wanted to be more outgoing, more of a party person. I wanted to be more extroverted, tougher, more detached.  I thought that if I just pretended I was all of those things, I could become not me anymore, but I usually just ended up sort of lost and confused.

Paradoxically, once I accepted that some things about me were just never going to change, I felt more empowered to become the best version of myself.  I will always be overly sensitive and nostalgic.  I will always be introverted. I will always forget my keys when I run out the door, and I will always, always have stiff hips.

Which brings me back to - so what?  I have the wisdom to realize that I shouldn't beat myself up over a biological tendency that is out of my hands, but it's how I live with that realization that really matters.  Do I sit in class and go "nope, can't do hip openers because my hips suck."  Or do I recognize that my work is deeper and takes longer, be forgiving of myself but keep doing the work anyways.

Our weaknesses are usually just the other side of our strengths.  My empathy and sensitivity is what allows me to develop deep friendships.  It makes me good at what I do because I intuitively get where people are coming from and what they need.  My preference for reading rather than acting, means that when I do have to drive results, I already have a thorough understanding of the situation.  My sense of perfectionism that makes me always question myself, also means that whenever I decide to do something, I go for it 150%.

Sometimes, major decisions that affect our lives are made by someone we've never seen and whose actions we can't control.  All we can do is be here now and commit 100% to the present moment with integrity and strength, while at the same time giving up our expectation for results. 

When people feel out of control in a high-pressure situation, they start doing weird things to try and steer the outcome.  Usually we lash out at each other and start throwing people under the bus.  The desire for teamwork tends to go straight out the window. I've seen this firsthand, it is not awesome.

Realistically, anything can change in our lives at any moment.  Someone I love could be taken from me, I could lose my job, my house, all of my possessions at literally any second.  Practicing detachment is a good exercise.  I don't mean detachment in the sense of not caring - I will always care, it's just part of who I am.  But there is a difference between caring and being attached to results.  Attachment is what usually causes all the arguing and under-the-bus throwing. 

In summary:  Live right now with integrity, don't worry about what happens next because most of the time you have no control over it.  Also, you are who you are, but your weaknesses can also be your strengths.  Don't think you have to be someone else, have more money or more success, in order to love yourself - you can do it right now.